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Friday, August 26, 2011

What a week! The unfortunate part is that "it's not over yet." That was quite an earthquake we had in Virginia. Now officially categorized as a 5.8, it was the strongest quake in our state (commonwealth, actually) since 1897. That means most of us have never felt anything like it.

Not too long ago, we had a small earthquake, which I recognized as one pretty quickly. It freaked out all of us East Coast types. That turned out to be nothing compared to what happened here Tuesday. I was at my desk at home, on the phone placing an order, when the trembling started. As it rolled in, things started to rattle. I thought Charlie was misbehaving (he wasn't, but during the earthquake, he came running into the room to be with me). Within nanoseconds, as everything in my house and my house started to move rather violently, I realized we were having a doozy of an earthquake. I had told the woman on the phone, "Hang on, something is really wrong." She stayed on the phone until I came back, after the earthquake had ended, and I told her what had happened. She told me she had been on the phone with California customers when earthquakes had struck. What are the chances of that?

I was pretty rattled. As I surveyed for damage, I found perfume bottles everywhere. They went flying off shelves. Pictures on the wall were askew. Shampoos and conditioners on the rim of the tub were in the tub. I'm fortunate. I found nothing damaged or broken. There was severe damage elsewhere. You may have read that the National Cathedral suffered major damage, with fallen angels and parts of the spires broken off and smashed on the ground. The Washington Monument was damaged badly. Just up the street at Tysons Corner, part of a building wall came down and smashed cars. In Mineral, Virginia (southwest of here) at the epicenter, the damage is catastrophic. Many homes and businesses in the little town have been condemned.

We have had unsettling aftershocks since then. Why do they keep happening at night? The largest was Thursday at 1:07 am, when we had a 4.5. Charlie felt it first and bolted upright. Then the house started to rattle. The aftershock was more of a severe rattle than a rocking and rolling shock. It was still unnerving. I lost two nights of sleep to aftershocks. It's hard for me to go back to sleep when I've been awakened suddenly.

Now, we are waiting for Hurricane Irene. "She" is expected to reach Virginia on Saturday and Sunday. All coastal areas are being evacuated. I suspect we will have torrential rain and heavy winds, and many will lose power. I lost my power for 10 days after one tropical storm, and those were 10 miserable days. Workers from Florida Power and Light, who had come to help our area, restored my electricity. We cheered the guys! I wanted to hug them.

Let's hope for no major damage from Irene. The trees really suffer from these storms, homes are often damaged, and it seems inevitable that someone is going to get hurt. I'll be out braving the panicked crowds today to get all my essentials, including cat food.

I may also have to make a quick run to Neiman Marcus to see Kathy. As she crossed the parking lot there this week, some jerk almost ran over her (he kept going, so the mall is reviewing security tapes to try to find him). Kathy fell and broke a bone in her hand. She continued to work for five hours before she left to go get an x-ray, and she went in the next day to help all of you who have started shopping with her. That's dedication!

Let's talk about something beautiful. It's time for The Friday Forum, our open chat. What new products did you discover this week? Did you find any deals you couldn't resist this week? Are you using a fabulous product and want to sing its praises? Did you find a beauty product disappointing? Do you have a question others might be able to answer? Want to talk about skin care? What's new in your life? Just use the comments. Don't be shy. Just make sure to ask any question you might have over the weekend. By early the next week, most (not all) readers have moved on.

If you feel like shopping this weekend, Zuneta is offering free shipping from August 26 until midnight August 29 on all orders, wherever you are! Use code FREESHIPAUG. Now's the time to order Rouge Bunny Rouge.

Hi, Charlestongirl! About the earthquake in Virginia: I was sitting at the defense table morning of the earthquake here in Battle Creek, Michigan, doing a murder trial. All of a sudden I felt the table moving. Everyone thought I was nuts; now I know what it was.

OMG Charlestongirl,This week has been really crazy for you. I hope everything will work out and become better soon. We are waiting for "Irene" to come on Saturday to Boston, earthquake wasn't pleasant too on Wednesday, so I perfectly understand:(

As a SoCal native I've shaked, rattled, and rolled for years and have experienced five 6+ quakes that rocked my world. They don't really frighten me although I sincerely hope to never go through THE BIG ONE (9+) that the experts keep predicting for California. I guess the difference is in knowing what is happening and knowing how to respond. We have literally hundreds of earthquakes every day here, so we are used to the earth constantly moving under our feet. Most of those quakes go unnoticed by all save those wonderful seismologists like Dr. Lucy Jones. We joke that you can always tell the natives from the newbies. The newbie will say, "Did ya feel that?" The native will say, "Huh?"

What made your 5.8 quake so startling was that it occurred where it did. We get quakes like that frequently; especially in our dessert areas, but where you are? Not in over a hundred years. So, of course, it took people by surprise. Newcomers to California will often describe a big quake as a deep rumbling, followed by shaking/rolling, and the sensation that a train is going to come crashing through the house at any moment. So, it's not surprising that your quake had so many people confused and imagining a terrorist attack. After all, you folks had the nightmare of 9/11.

Surveying the aftermath while in shock is also never easy. Many of your beautiful old buildings were never meant to withstand the stress of shifting tectonic plates. Come to think of it, neither is a lot of your more recent construction. Building codes tend to reflect the needs and safety concerns of the area. When my husband first moved to California from another country, he couldn't understand why we would frame our homes with wood given the prevalence of termites--until he experienced his first sizable earthquake! It was a big Ah-ha! moment for him.

Fortunately, the damage and injury back there has been minor and the shock will quickly wear off as the pieces are picked up. People are so wonderfully resilient. (I'm still in awe of the Japanese.) Unfortunately, the aftershocks keep coming for quite awhile, but at least those are expected and everyone will know what they are.

Well, that ramble wasn't about beauty per se, except that there is nothing more beautiful than knowing that those you have come to know and care about are safe and well. And, surely you know, dear Charlestongirl, that it was with a collective sigh of relief, that your readers throughout the country saw your cheery posts popping up on BTiB as usual. You're a trooper :-)

The SoCal folks have all been making fun of us, but most people here have never experienced an earthquake like that. The people in the Pentagon said it felt just like it felt on 9-11 when the plane slammed into their building. Now that's scary!

You're right - so right - about our building codes. There were no codes in the 1700s and 1800s when some of the damaged buildings were built, brick by brick. Most are fixable, but it is so sad to see the photos.

You know that blogging is a passion for me. I couldn't stop for an earthquake! In fact, the product I was ordering was a beauty product from Apothica!

I live in Delaware and what we felt from the quake was only 2.0. I can't imagine a 5.8, and then what Japan got! This may be a gross comment, but if you lose your water during Irene, I have a good tip. Get as many buckets as you can and fill them with rain water, also fill your bathtub. When you lose water, of course you can't "flush". Pour about a gallon of water into the bowl, not the tank - the bowl itself. When the bowl water level reaches a certain level, it will flush by itself! I had no water for 3 days a couple weeks ago and my ex me about this. It works!

My thoughts are with you - glad to here you are OK , though shaken...keep us updated about the Hurricane . It skimmed by us here on the Fl coast , we only had showers and wind yesterday morning .Take care !

I'm tweeting updates. It just started raining a tiny bit here. We are ready for strong winds and rain. Inland, in the DC area, we are told to expect tropical storm-strength effects. Closer to the coast, it's a full-fledged hurricane. Raining heavily in southeastern Virginia now.

What a week it's been! Terribly busy for all, it seems, but grateful that it wasn't horribly for most.

I've only experience an earthquake once, last year...I was visiting a friend and when the house started shaking, I asked her if there were train tracks nearby. She said no. We both stared at each other blankly and it stopped. Nothing happened but it was scary!!

On the beauty front, I bought a bottle of Chanel's Peridot. I generally don't like Chanel polishes because they chip so quickly, but that colour was too gorgeous to ignore!

Saw the Chanel Fall collection and left it in the dust, aside from the Peridot. Can't see myself wearing any of it.

AND, there's a new, exclusive, LE Guerlain fragrance, made for the Bolshoi Ballet company in Moscow. I'm hot on it's trail. I NEED a bottle! (right). I know, I'm insane, I don't need more fragrance but it sounds so gorgeous with notes of petit grain, bergamote, vanilla, tonka and incense. I've been having trouble getting in touch with the Maison in Moscow, so I contacted the Champs Elysees who've put me in touch with customer service. Now, I wait....13000 rubles for a 50ml bottle. Half the fun is the hunt. Now, the addict must wait.... :-)

Thanks for the well wishes. I think we'll be fine. There's a breeze now (not really wind yet), and we had one little shower. We are expected to experience real weather around mid-afternoon. If I don't lose power, I'll tweet updates.

I don't know. We talked late yesterday, and she didn't tell me that they had caught him. NM Security seemed to think they could, but the more time that goes by, the more I wonder if their tapes caught it.

I'll update here once I can ask her again.

She said it was a sports car with the radio at full blast. He came around a corner at high speed, as so many clueless/thoughtless people do. It's a wonder someone hasn't been killed in a Tysons parking lot.

The first thing I did when I got up this morning (Sat.) was check to see if you had posted! When I saw that you had, I went about my morning routine knowing that you and your menagerie were still doing fine. As I said before, you're a trooper :-)

I hope your mom is going to be OK. I don't remember exactly where she lives in relation to the storm's path, but even those like you who are not in the thick of it are going to be impacted. That's one big, monster-sized storm! The size of Europe, they say. Those satellite pictures are very humbling, aren't they?

Rest assured, no one in California is laughing at you now. Earthquakes strike with a wam-bam and then you pick up the pieces, but hurricanes just keep hammering away with such a protracted fury! Like the rest of the nation, we're glued to our media of choice, following Irene as she slowly but relentlessly moves up the coast.

Keep us posted as to how you're doing. You know we are genuinely concerned.

Thank you, Eileen! You are a sweetheart. I even went to the 7-11 for ice early. Got 30 pounds and put in coolers on the porch. Decided I might want it if my power goes out.

Mom will be OK. She lives five minutes from me in McLean. She has a 24x7 caregiver with her, so they can get help if needed (unless an ambulance is stranded somewhere). I took over calcium (she takes nine/day because she had no thyroid or parathyroid glands) and prescription meds to her this morning.

Mom loses power more frequently than I do (she lives in a very old wooded section where ALL lines are on poles). I suspect she will lose power at some point. She always refuses to leave, though. She doesn't mind heat, and her food seems to stay cold for a long time in her refrigerator. After the last horrible thunderstorm, her power was out for three days. Remember when I was hopping over live wires to get in to her house this summer?

Irene has been pounding North Carolina and has moved into Virginia. So far, we only have rain here, with a little breeze, but that will change quickly.

Irene's photos on radar are humbling. I think it's amazing that locals are saying, "Oh, it's only a Category 1." You can die just as quickly in a Category 1 as 2 when a tree comes down on you. I think people need to go home and stay home.

About Me

Charlestongirl, a Virginia baby boomer, has a successful left-brain
business career, but her heart belongs to her right brain, which loves
the beauty industry, antiques, jewelry, gardens, and the finer things in
life. She loves sharing her extensive (and expensive) experience with
beauty products with others and hopes she can help you choose products
that are worth the splurge.
For more than you ever wanted to know, please click on the About
Charlestongirl page at the blog header.